DEC. 26, 2003 – JAN. 1, 2004

THE LIST 2003 : Eat, Drink, Man, Woman: Best New Restaurants
by Michelle Huneven

I‚ have reviewed about three dozen new restaurants this year, many favorably, even if I would never choose to go back again. Restaurants are, after all, a personal preference. Everyone has favorites, and often their choices reek of idiosyncrasy. There are restaurants I would happily revisit if you were taking me out – these are either restaurants that are too pricey for my budget or ones that I like a lot but that wouldn’t, for reasons of style or ambiance, be at the top of my list. But then there are restaurants that I would revisit on my own, and happily pay the tab, and even rack up a big bill, out of pure joy at the mere opportunity to do so.

CHEEBO
Funky, fun, and completely, unabashedly unpretentious, Cheebo in West Hollywood simply embodies the way I like to eat day-by-day: organic when possible, with big flavors, good products, and a level of skill in even the simplest preparations that makes the ordinary deeply satisfying. Long-cooked organic pork, a range of skillfully composed salads, a pizza whose crust has an alluring internal crunch and well-wrought toppings (try the sausage and fennel), plank-roasted salmon – nothing’s fancy and virtually everything is stalwartly delicious.